Gallo Organico

Thursday, June 30, 2016

It's the end of June and time for the first linky for the 2016 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. Please add a link to a post about the Scavenger Hunt. Either one written for today or one from earlier this month. Also, if you don't have a blog, feel free to link to your flickr or any other clickable photo sharing site where you have pictures. And please try to go visit a few other participants and leave a comment. It's all part of the fun!***Edited to add: Apologies if the technology is not working for you; it's acting up for quite a few people, but working for others. You can always email me at rinda1961@yahoo.com if you can't link up, and I can add your link. Hopefully I'll get it sorted out! *****My post today is a tale of two team logos. . . and the choices a young man makes as he grows up. My son Henry is a very talented soccer player. Not EPL talented, but talented enough to be pursued by minor league teams here in the states, such as the Burlingame Football Club (second photo) or Lane United in Eugene, Oregon. Both are the lowest level feeder clubs for a MLS team. He would love to play for either of them - he loves being on the pitch, and he tells me that he is playing the best soccer of his life. But he is also a young man who will be graduating from University in a little over a year and knows that he needs to be building a resume and making contacts to start a career in his chosen field of sports business. So he applied for a summer job with the San Francisco Giants baseball team and had what he thought was a terrific interview. He waited and waited to hear back from them. His email and voice mail remained silent, and he asked whether we would be okay with him playing soccer and taking classes if a job with the Giants didn't come through. I said, "Of course!" I told him that he's only 21 once and the possibility of playing professional soccer is amazing and something he would never regret doing and would be able to talk about for the rest of his life. And then the email came with a job offer from the Giants. And Henry accepted the job. And he works every home game, wearing his employee badge with the San Francisco Giants logo. He's making good contacts and learning new skills and hoping it will turn into a regular job upon graduation.But if it doesn't, I'm hopeful that the clubs give him another chance. Because even though I'm proud of him for making the "right" choice, the adult choice about what team logo to wear this summer, part of me hopes that he still gets a chance to someday be able to tell his kids and grandkids about the year he played professional soccer . . .

***************

Link up your scavenger hunt post below and don't forget to visit a few other participants when you get a chance! My other scavenger hunt posts can be found by clicking this link. Also, it's not too late to join the fun. You have until the end of September (approximately) to find the 21 items on the official list. You can find all the list and all the details here.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

This spring, Clara volunteered at a wonderful animal sanctuary in southern California called Living Free. One of the projects she took on was refurbishing the pond in the "big dog park." She had to clean it out and fill it. She usually brought one of the dogs with her to the park while she did the work, and this one loved playing with the water while Clara filled the pond. I thought these action photos made a good foursome to share with Helena's snap meme this week.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Follow the footprints back here on Thursday to link up with a post about the 2016 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. You can write and link a new post or link up to a previous post.It's just a terrific opportunity to see who all is participating and how the hunt is going. Looking forward to see you on June 30th!

Monday, June 27, 2016

Sharing another one of my favorite photographs from my trip to Japan. I love the reflected clouds and shadow of the tree, as well as the koi. It's a dreamy dream that touches my soul. Hope this gets your week off to a peaceful start.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

On Friday, I had the great good fortune to take a class with Tim Holtz called artful assemblage. The class focused on learning how to use a variety of Tim Holtz products to make a three dimensional collage. We played a lot with distress crayons and distress collage mediums and used ideology ephemera, letter press and found relatives. I absolutely adore the collage I created. It features my one little word for 2016 and focuses on the idea of growing from a willful child to a brave woman. I meant to feature my current age (55) but that didn't really pan out. I did however include the year of my birth (1961) and the year I graduated from high school (1978).

I love Tim Holtz and use his products a lot (you can see many of my Tim Holtz creations, as well as class and book reviews by clicking and scrolling through this link). I first met Tim almost 15 years ago, when he was first starting out, at a Club Scrap retreat. He spent the entire weekend with the group and showed himself to be a funny, talented, genuine, generous person. And he's still the same, as well as a very gifted teacher. Tim is a self-taught, hands-on artist who began his career as a demonstrator at some chain craft store, so he's not long on design principles. He's also a brilliant business person and inventor who works with a variety of different manufacturers to try to get the highest quality product at a reasonable price. So he makes stamps with stampers anonymous, cutting tools with tonic, ink products with ranger, etc., rather than doing everything with one company.The class reflected all this. The class was short on collage design theory but long on fun and other learning. This worked for me because I've taken (and taught) collage classes. I learned all about distress crayons (which I had sampled before but not really understood until this class). I also learned an amazing new tip - place your paint and glue/medium brushes in a baby wipe while you're using them to keep them fresh without becoming water logged. For our $85, we got three hours of amazing, personalized instruction, all the supplies for the project, a bonus apron and a bonus stand for our canvases! A huge value in my opinion.

One of the joys of Tim's classes is that he brings everything! I walked in with absolutely no supplies and was able to complete a project that I loved. Another joy is running into friends. Cindy McCool (pictured above) lives near me and we used to get together at least once a month to make art together. We'd lost track of each other recently, so it was quite a treat to walk into the classroom and spy her there! Although we were not sitting anywhere near each other and there was a huge variety of supplies to choose from, there ended up being a lot of similarities between our two projects. I guess that's what comes from being art sisters who have spent so much time together.All-in-all, a terrific class and a terrific day!

Friday, June 24, 2016

For the first summer in a long time, I'm approaching the holiday without too many plans. I often teach or have big plans to write or travel or do other work. But this summer, I didn't sign up for any much of that. Sure, I've got a few things to do, here and there, but mainly I have time to do whatever I want or to do nothing at all. And I'm really enjoying it.

Wild Heart - found on the bluffs

So what have I been doing?

Cleaning out the garage and doing some light gardening - both feel very satisfying.

A little reading, but not as much as I would like.

A lot of TV watching - binge watching Justified (OMG - this show is so good; I'll be sad when I finish it this weekend) and Bloodline (season 2 not as good as season 1, but I enjoy sharing this with Henry) and soccer, soccer, soccer (Euros and Copa Centenario)!

Thursday, June 23, 2016

I met some friends at the last remaining local scrapbook store last week and had a wonderful and productive time finishing the last of the pages for Henry's sports album. These pages are from his college soccer team's victorious trip to the national tournament.

Very traditional and basic pages made with cardstock and stickers. But that's the tone of his whole album. And I still have to add journaling. But I'm so proud of myself for getting caught up on this mammoth project. Plus, it ticks off item number 8 on the Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt.

I still really enjoy making traditional paper scrapbook pages, and I'm looking forward to figuring out what photos I still have to scrap and which ones I need to print to scrap.

But I'm also branching out into other types of scrapping, including:

shutterfly photo books - I'm working on uploading my photos from Japan there and will create a 12x12 hardcover book with those photos.

chatbooks app - Deb Turtle's mentioned this app and shared a code for a free book (CFA6GXG7). It actually is free if you choose the slow shipping (which I did). I created a 60 page book with 60 photos from Henry's college life, all pulled from my iphone. I haven't received it yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing it and will give a review once its here. I think he'll like the book, and he's not that quality conscious - LOL! Anyone else tried this yet?

I also got a notification for a new app called Parabo. If you use the code "amaze," you can get 25 free 4x4 photos. They're supposed to be on high quality matte paper, suitable for display. I did have to pay shipping for this one, so it wasn't actually free. But still reasonable, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they turned out. I printed my favorite 25 photos from Japan, and I'm thinking of matting them together in a grid and putting them on display somewhere (maybe the bathroom, actually!). Anyone else used this service?

Maria "Rinda" Ontiveros

Artist & Blogger

2016 Summertime Scavenger Hunt

The List!

1. A "wild heart" - a naturally occurring heart (like the rock above, but it doesn't have to be a rock)2. A footprint or pawprint3. A skeleton, bone or x-ray4. A book or magazine read during 20165. A porch or deck6. A camper (caravan)7. A family gathering8. A drawing, art project, artistic photograph, scrapbook page, greeting card, or art journal page created by you.9. Someone playing with, in, or around water.10. A bicycle11. Fresh produce12. A window13. The moon14. A buffet of food15. A team logo16. A map showing a trip taken during the time period17. Twins18. A supermarket cart, basket or trolley full of groceries 19. A seasonal cocktail or beverage20. Someone laughing21. A photograph of you with a newspaper or calendar page from the time period covered in the Hunt. Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.Alternatives - if you're having trouble finding any of the above, you may substitute from this list (but you may not substitute for item #21):alternative 1: a lighthousealternative 2: a baby (human or animal)